Carly Fiorina, who led HP from 1999 to 2005 and was California’s 2010 Republican U.S. Senate nominee, talks in the two-minute video about her career, America, family, faith and conservatism – with nary a demon sheep in sight.

Mark Zuckerberg is throwing his weight behind the pro-vaccination movement, picking “On Immunity: An Inoculation,” a book by essayist Eula Biss, for his Facebook book club.

“Vaccination is an important and timely topic,” Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post explaining his choice. “The science is completely clear: vaccinations work and are important for the health of everyone in our community.” Continue Reading →

Rep. Anna Eshoo got some valuable face time last week with President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One, and she used it to promote her proposal to create a new national monument on the Santa Cruz County coast.

Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, didn’t ask for Obama’s commitment to support the bill, which would permanently protect the 5,843-acre Coast Dairies property overlooking the Pacific Ocean. But she elicited one of the president’s fondest memories and an emotional connection to the region, which could pay off down the road.

Eshoo says that, as soon she mentioned Highway 1, Obama’s face lit up. He told the story of how he and first lady Michelle Obama drove the coastal route from Napa south to Santa Barbara on their honeymoon.

Obama was “most captivated” by the region and the drive down Highway 1, Eshoo recalled. Continue Reading →

It has been a remarkable year for Mohammad Usafi, an Afghan translator for the U.S. Marines who was threatened with death by the Taliban. Last Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he arrived in the Bay Area after his good friend Adrian Kinsella, a Marine captain and UC Berkeley law student, spent three-and-a-half years fighting red tape to get him to safety.

Since then, Usafi landed a job at high-tech company while attending a Super Bowl party, lobbied on Capitol Hill on behalf of other Afghan translators and appeared on the HBO show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.” Most importantly, in December he was joined by his mother and seven younger siblings, who had been hiding in Pakistan because their lives also were in danger. Continue Reading →

The San Jose Police Department’s clumsy and heavily criticized acquisition of a drone has spurred an ongoing public relations campaign, where commanders are shepherding community meetings to explain its potential benefits and gather thoughts on whether such a device should even be in the low-altitude skies.

The 3-foot-wide, camera-equipped Century Neo 660 six-rotor hobbyist helicopter is grounded as a polarized discussion rages between those who see it as another step in police innovation and those who see it as another step toward an aggressive surveillance state in an era of controversial NSA snooping.

But now we’re learning it could be grounded for even longer depending on how proposed rules by the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates drone use in the United States, apply to the SJPD device.

This past week, news reports revealed draft policies including a requirement of some level of pilot’s license for the currently banned commercial use of drones. Private recreational use is not subject to FAA regulation. Continue Reading →

Back in the day, a television “viewing party” was for watching the Academy Awards, Super Bowl or some kind of entertainment on the tube. But a viewing party for immigration reform?

Yep, we were invited to attend such a party on Thursday for President Barack Obama‘s executive order protecting undocumented immigrants from deportation. About 50 people attended the party thrown by SIREN, an advocacy group, at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in East San Jose. They had two large TV screens hanging from the ceiling, with very clear pictures and sound.

However, the Spanish subtitles didn’t come through as promised, leaving several undocumented viewers confused as to what the president ordered.

When he overhauled California’s Byzantine school financing structure last year, Gov. Jerry Brown declared that schools and parents, not lawmakers and bureaucrats, should control education.

What’s happened in the year since then? Well, nature and politicians both abhor a vacuum. The Legislature has churned out more laws prescribing what schools must do. Yes, some of its goals are noble, and some laws are even needed.

Then there’s Assemblyman Chris Holden‘s AB 1912, recommending that California school kids learn about the election of Barack Obama and the significance of his being the first African-American president.

The Legislature passed the Pasadena Democrat’s bill almost unanimously, recommending the subject to state curriculum writers. Brown — who last year said his principle of “subsidiarity” is violated “when distant authorities prescribe in minute detail what is taught, how it is taught and how it is to be measured” – signed the bill.

Part of any modern politician’s job these days seems to be dispensing acknowledgement via social media of various milestones, events or occasions. Because to omit the acknowledgement, the thinking apparently goes, invites critics to suggest a slight, a controversy seasoned pols can do without in an election year.

But there also are pitfalls to this practice, as Rep. Mike Honda found out earlier this week, as a clumsily worded recognition can backfire spectacularly. The San Jose Democrat tweeted this on Sunday:‏ Continue Reading →

Terrorists and nuclear weapons are frequently described as threats to national security, but a new report released last week names a new adversary for the United States Military — soda.

Today, three quarters of all young Americans are ineligible for military service because they’re overweight or obese, and consumption of sugary drinks is a leading cause of obesity among children and adults, according to the report by Mission Readiness, a nonpartisan group of retired military officials.

Retired Brigadier General David Brahms, a member of Mission Readiness, said California students should drink more water, not soda.

“It is mission critical,” Brahms said. “We know that our military forces perform best when they are properly hydrated. It should be the same for California schools: top priority.” Continue Reading →

A generation or so ago — who’s counting? — newspapers pioneered the use of “truth boxes’’ to measure the truth of claims by political candidates. Given all the flim-flamming in campaigns, this was naturally a growth opportunity. So guess who’s launching a start-up in the truth business? A candidate himself — in this case, former Obama commerce official Ro Khanna, who is running for Congress against incumbent Mike Honda. Continue Reading →